Weird things happen. Not quite the same but how did Kerry McCoy go from a pretty weak 190 pounder to a HWT champ in one year?

Perhaps he didn't wrestle too many matches that year and lost to all the ranked guys but picked it up when it mattered. I heard after winning NCAAs he went to Espoir Nationals and went 0:2.

Originally Posted by Big

Perhaps he didn't wrestle too many matches that year and lost to all the ranked guys but picked it up when it mattered.

Pretty much nailed it. To start, Big 8 was pretty deep that year, Frey from Mizzu was pretty much #1 all year, and OU had a good guy that was a multiple time AA, so his conference duals were all tough. OSU won National duals that year, and don't think he won many or any of those matches. I remember in our dual (#1 OSU vs. #2 Oregon State) our coaches bumped SR 158 lb. AA Dan Alar up to 167, to get a "sure win" against a sub .500 freshman (Smith was @158) only to have it backfire........we were all like........ "who was that guy?"
I think that was the start of the legend!

He also had things fall into place for him at NCAAs. The guy he faced in the finals was also unseeded, which I believe I have read was the only finals matchups of two unseeded wrestlers.

Also, it seems he was in a relatively weak weight that year. None of the AAs and Branch have done anything internationally.

Branch beat the #2 seed in the first round and then never faced another seeded wrestler. He was in line to wrestle Brinzer in the semis, but Ray got beat in the quarters.

All that being said - Mark Branch was GOOD. We've all seen freshmen who struggled in the beginning.

Originally Posted by ISU2008

Branch beat the 7 seed in the quarters and the 6 seed in the semis.

Okay - I'm an idiot.